Today in History with a Twist: September 23, 2013

1780 - British Major John André is arrested as a spy by American soldiers. He is carrying papers that expose Benedict Arnold's plans to surrender West Point to the British and desert to their side. At the time west Point was not the famous military school that it is today it was a fortified position on the Hudson River that controlled the river. If the British would have gained control of West Point it would eventually lead to them taking control of the entire Hudson River Valley and giving them a major strategic advantage in the war. - Who processed Arnold's security clearance? USIS?

Arnold's moves were like those in a chess game but today is Checkers Day! Surprisingly, Checkers Day (also known as Dogs in Politics Day) is not named for the classic game. On September 23, 1952, vice presidential candidate Richard Nixon gave a speech to address growing public concern about his use of campaign funds. He assured the public that he had not misused the funds, but that he intended to keep one gift - a little dog that the Nixon children named Checkers. The “Checkers speech” was a political triumph and the public responded with overwhelming support. (Punchbowl.com)

1779 - On the high seas a true American hero, John Paul Jones, fought and won the Battle of Flamborough Head. In a desperate fight in which his flagship, USS Bonhomme Richard, was actually sinking Jones outfought the British and captured the British 44-gun escort ship H.M.S. Serapis and a supporting sloop. The Serapis took serious damage also but the Americans gained the advantage when the Frigate Alliance joined the duel. Seeing that he could not win the battle when the Alliance joined the fray the British Captain surrendered. - We rarely hear that last part.

1338 - The Battle of Arnemuiden was the first naval battle of the Hundred Years' War and the first naval battle using artillery, as the English ship Christofer had three cannon and one hand gun. - But what ever happened to Greek fire?

1409 - After Mongol leader Bunyashiri had been crowned with the title of Öljei Temür in 1403, the Yongle Emperor (Ming Dynasty) sent an envoy to congratulate and demand submission of him. The Mongols rejected the offer and the Chinese sent an army of 100,000 to subdue the Mongols however the Mongols lured them into a trap and wiped them out at the Battle of Kherlen (1409). - The Chinese should have read Sun Tzu as closely as the Mongols did.

1992 - A large Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb destroys the forensic laboratories in Belfast. - How do you solve a crime when they blow up the British CSI?

1845 - The Knickerbockers Baseball Club, the first baseball team to play under the modern rules, is founded in New York. - Abner Doubleday is nowhere to be seen.

Today we celebrate the birthdays of:

63 BC - Augustus - Roman emperor (d. 14) - Must have been pretty good he got a whole month named after him.

1215 - Kublai Khan - Mongolian emperor (d. 1294) - Kublai was a grandson of Genghis Khan. He succeeded his older brother Möngke as Khagan in 1260, but had to defeat his younger brother Ariq Böke in a succession war lasting till 1264. This episode marked the beginning of disunity in the empire. Kublai's real power was limited to China and Mongolia, though as Khagan he still had influence in the Ilkhanate and, to a far lesser degree, in the Golden Horde. If counting the Mongol Empire at that time as a whole, his realm reached from the Pacific to the Black Sea, from Siberia to modern day Afghanistan - one fifth of the world's inhabited land area. In 1271, Kublai established the Yuan Dynasty, which ruled over present-day Mongolia, China, Korea, and some adjacent areas, and assumed the role of Emperor of China. By 1279, the Yuan forces had overcome the last resistance of the Southern Song Dynasty, and Kublai became the first non-Chinese Emperor to conquer all of China. He was also the only Mongol khan after 1260 to win new conquests. - Many would say he became too Chinese!

To learn more about the above topics check out the following books from the Library's collection:

Amazon Says: The first of a three-volume biography of the troubled American president traces the beginning of Nixon's presidential aspirations in the Congress during the Korean War and McC more...

Amazon Says: The first of a three-volume biography of the troubled American president traces the beginning of Nixon's presidential aspirations in the Congress during the Korean War and McCarthy era. By the author of Secret Affairs. 50,000 first printing. Tour. less...

Amazon Says: John Paul Jones, at sea and in the heat of battle, was the great American hero of the Age of Sail. He was to history what Patrick O'Brian's Jack Aubrey and C. S. Forester's Ho more...

Amazon Says: John Paul Jones, at sea and in the heat of battle, was the great American hero of the Age of Sail. He was to history what Patrick O'Brian's Jack Aubrey and C. S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower are to fiction. Ruthless, indomitable, clever; he vowed to sail, as he put it, "in harm's way." He never flinched or turned back. Evan Thomas's minute-by-minute re-creation of the bloodbath between Jones's Bonhomme Richard and the British man-of-war Serapis off the coast of England on an autumn night in 1779 is as gripping a sea battle as can be found in any novel. Thomas draws on Jones's wide-ranging correspondence with some of the most significant figures of the American Revolution -- John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson -- to paint a compelling portrait of a tortured warrior who was that most interesting and essential of American figures, the entirely self-made man. The son of a Scottish gardener (or possibly the bastard son of the lord of the manor), Jones fought his way up from second mate on a slave ship to become a mythic figure, hailed as the father of the navy, buried in a crypt (modeled after Napoleon's Tomb) beneath the chapel of the U.S. Naval Academy. Along the way he was an accused murderer (forced to flee to America under an assumed name); a notorious rake in Parisian society; and an admiral in the navy of Catherine the Great, fighting against the Turks in the Black Sea. He was a singularly successful naval officer during the American Revolution because he was both bold and visionary. John Paul Jones is more than a great sea story. Jones is a character for the ages. John Adams called him the "most ambitious and intriguing officer in the American Navy." The renewed interest in the Founding Fathers reminds us of the great men who made this country, but John Paul Jones teaches us that it took fighters as well as thinkers, men driven by dreams of personal glory as well as high-minded principle to break free of the past and start a new world. Jones's spirit was classically American. Evan Thomas brings his skills as a biographer to this complex, protean figure whose life and rise are both thrilling as a tale of dauntless courage and revealing about the birth of a nation. less...

Amazon Says: Though the term 'Hundred Years War' was not coined until the 1860s, the Anglo-French conflicts of the later middle ages have long been of interest to historians. The principal more...

Amazon Says: Though the term 'Hundred Years War' was not coined until the 1860s, the Anglo-French conflicts of the later middle ages have long been of interest to historians. The principal issue remains Edward III's assumption of the title 'King of France' in 1340. Did he seriously intend to become king, or did he act simply to create a useful bargaining counter in the long-running struggle over the feudal status of English royal lands in France? Equally difficult to establish are the motives of his successors in preserving the claim to the throne of France - a claim which was not finally abandoned until 1801-2. This book explores the trends in historical opinion from the time of the wars to the present day. It shows how the wars of Edward III can only be understood by looking at Anglo-French relations in previous centuries, and explains why a lasting settlement to the territorial issues had already proved impossible before Edward laid claim to the French throne. It provides a straightforward narrative of English involvement in France, placing the well known military events in their diplomatic context. By focusing on the treaties of 1259, 1360 and 1420, it suggests that there was not one 'hundred year war' but rather three separate yet linked conflicts, all with significant implications for the European scene as a whole. In conclusion, Dr Curry suggests that the nature of Anglo-French hostility in the later middle ages set the two nations on a collision course for several centuries to come. less...

Amazon Says: They were history's most famous and ferocious warriors. From the Huns to the Mongols, successive waves of nomadic horsemen swept out of the great steppes of Central Asia and w more...

Amazon Says: They were history's most famous and ferocious warriors. From the Huns to the Mongols, successive waves of nomadic horsemen swept out of the great steppes of Central Asia and wreaked havoc on the static civilizations of Europe, India, and China. How were they so successful? And, what were the limits of their powers? An esteemed professor--who specializes in Arabic and medieval studies--reveals just how "underdeveloped" societies spawned such great generals, from Attila to Genghis Khan; how nomadic Arabs swarmed from the desert in the 7th century to carve out an empire that stretched from Spain to the Chinese frontier; why the Mongols failed to conquer Europe; and where those unique, seaborne raiders, the Vikings, fit into this story. less...

Amazon Says: In The Irish War military veteran and historian Tony Geraghty reveals the sinister patterns of action and reaction in this generations-old domestic conflict. Drawing on public more...

Amazon Says: In The Irish War military veteran and historian Tony Geraghty reveals the sinister patterns of action and reaction in this generations-old domestic conflict. Drawing on public and covert sources, as well as interviews with members of British Intelligence, the security forces, and the Irish Republican Army, he brings to light the disturbing inner workings of an organized terrorist group and its military opposition. less...

Amazon Says: Baseball History from Outside the Lines gathers the best recent historical literature about the game. These well-written essays describe developments in the game's past, asses more...

Amazon Says: Baseball History from Outside the Lines gathers the best recent historical literature about the game. These well-written essays describe developments in the game's past, assess their impact, and explain how they reflect the period in which they occurred. The essays also explore baseball's influences outside the field of play as well as the effect of external factors on the game. The contributors discuss such key issues as demographics, communities, social mobility, race and ethnicity, baseball as a business, player-management relations, amateurs, women, and international play. less...

Amazon Says: Despite his talent for self-promotion, the character of the emperor Augustus is rarely revealed and as such makes this biography unique in its presentation of Augustus the man more...

Amazon Says: Despite his talent for self-promotion, the character of the emperor Augustus is rarely revealed and as such makes this biography unique in its presentation of Augustus the man. Pat Southern chronologically traces the life, works and times of the emperor, presenting ideology and events from his point of view to provide a compelling depiction of an extraordinary man, who was the guiding light in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire. less...

Amazon Says: Emerging out of the vast steppe grasslands of Central Asia in the early 1200s, the Mongols, under their ferocious leader, Genghis Khan, quickly carved out an empire that by th more...

Amazon Says: Emerging out of the vast steppe grasslands of Central Asia in the early 1200s, the Mongols, under their ferocious leader, Genghis Khan, quickly carved out an empire that by the late thirteenth century covered almost one-sixth of the Earth’s landmass—from Eastern Europe to the eastern shore of Asia—and encompassed 110 million people. Far larger than the much more famous domains of Alexander the Great and ancient Rome, it has since been surpassed in overall size and reach only by the British Empire. The Rise and Fall of the Second Largest Empire in the World recounts the spectacularly rapid expansion and dramatic decline of the Mongol realm, while examining its real, widespread, and enduring influence on countless communities from the Danube River to the Pacific Ocean. less...